Abstract

An ethnobotanical study was done in the Ashezai and Salarzai Valleys, District Buner, Pakistan. A total of 163 plant species belonging to 73 families were reported with the help of standardized questionnaires for their traditional, medicinal and economic uses. Out of these, 62 families were dicots; 8 monocots and two pteridophytes. Gymnosperms were represented by one family. Asteraceae had 16 spp. which was followed by Papilionaceae and Poaceae (each with 9 spp.); Lamiaceae, Moraceae and Rosaceae (each with 6 spp.); Apiaceae, Polygonaceae and Solanaceae (each with 5 spp.); Amaranthaceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Euphorbiaceae (each with 4 species); Oleaceae and Salicaceae had 3 species each. The remaining families had less number of species. They included 110 medicinal plants, 51 fodder and forage species, 37 fuel wood species, 33 vegetable/pot-herb species, 22 fruit yielding species, 20 thatching/roofing species, 13 timber species, 18 ornamental species, 8 poisonous plants, 10 fencing/ hedges plants, 4 agricultural tools making species, 5 honeybee species. Deforestation, biotic interference and overgrazing are the responsible culprits for dwindling phytodiversity in the investigated area. This study might be helpful to ethnobotanists, conservationists, ecologist, pharmacologists, taxonomists, wild life and water shed managers as baseline data.

Key words: Ethnobotanical study, plant species, medicinal plants, traditional knowledge.